Castle Heights High School
by galindagirlda
Summary: Welcome to Castle Heights High School! Here you'll meet Wendy Darling as she tries to tackle all the challenges that high school has to offer.
1. Chapter 1

For some geeky reason, I was majorly excited about high school.

I don't know what it was, but the idea of growing up and getting a shot at being someone I'd always wanted to be intrigued me. So I was majorly excited about high school.

I was even majorly excited about going to Castle Heights high school. My older cousin had gone there. Her name was Sarah and I'd always looked up to her, but one misstep at Castle Heights and she was labeled a joke. A nerd. A loser. But that didn't stop me from craving the unknown.

My day had started terribly, however. My makeup, hair, and clothes looked pristine. I took one look in the mirror and knew that buying that new shirt from American Eagle had been a good move, even if it had taken a big chunk of my babysitting money. My eyeliner looked perfect and my smile was radiant. Unfortunately, I had spent so much time checking myself out in the mirror that I was almost late to the bus.

As soon as I got on the bus, I noticed it was pretty much utter chaos. A couple of juniors were making out furiously in the seat by the bus driver. A goth Asian girl glared at me viciously before I saw my best friend Peter waving me down. "Wendy! Wendy Darling!" he shouted. I eagerly plopped down beside him.

"I'm so glad you saved me a seat!" I said enthusiastically. "I almost had to sit by myself."

Peter laughed. "I'd never let that happen to you, Wen," he assured me. We compared schedules and found to our dismay that we didn't have a single class together. "Bummer!" he huffed. Then his phone started chirping. I looked away, knowing it was probably his girlfriend asking where he was.

Peter and I had been friends for as long as I could remember. He lived next door and we'd played all the time as kids. I can't really remember when things changed, but as I looked at him I couldn't help but feel a wave of longing. The morning sun glinted off of his red hair and made his green eyes shine in a way that almost made me sigh. Of course, Peter had no idea that I was pretty much in love with him and I fully intended to keep it that way. Besides, if he was happy with his sleazy blonde girlfriend, Tina Bell, I was happy for him. That's what best friends are for, right?

"Hey." A voice from across the aisle yanked me from my thoughts. A pretty older girl with caramel skin and black hair was looking at me. "Are you Sarah Darling's younger sister?"

I was almost afraid to answer. "N-no," I replied, "but I am her cousin."

The girl nodded. "You look a lot like her. I'm Esmerelda." She stuck out her hand. I shook it but I felt kind of weird. Shaking hands was, in my opinion, for grownups. "I'm Wendy," I said. Esmerelda smiled, showing off two rows of perfectly white teeth. "I was Sarah's friend before she graduated last year," she explained before tearing my schedule out of my hand.

Before I could say anything, she gave it back. "Do you have lunch plans?" she asked. I shook my head, and Esmerelda smiled again. "I have fifth period lunch, too. We can sit together and I can maybe show you the ropes." She turned around before I could answer her.

I turned back to face the front of the bus and leaned my head back. I wasn't even at school yet and I had lunch plans. That's a good thing, right? I sure hope so.

The bus arrived at the school before Peter could look up from his phone. "Tina wanted me to ride with her to school," he told me, "but I told her I should better stick with you." I smiled. "Thanks for that," I said. He smiled back. "Anything, Miss Darling," he replied. But as soon as we stepped off the bus and into the next four years of our lives, he sprinted away to go find Tina. I sighed and went to go try to find my homeroom.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Meg!"

I spun around and looked at the person behind me. Of course it was Ferdinand. "Hi." I made sure to pack that one syllable with as much venom as I could muster before 9 AM.

Ferdinand flashed me his patented boyish grin. Two weeks ago I wouldn't have cared, but today it made me sick to my stomach. "I heard you dumped Herk. That kind of came out of nowhere." His voice sounded oily. Speaking of oily, when had he last washed his hair? Yuck.

"I gave it quite a bit of thought. Not that it's any of your business," I snapped, giving him my signature icy stare. Well, it used to be my signature stare. I'd forgotten how good it felt to be able to live life without caring about what people thought of you.

I'd forgotten what it felt like to not be popular.

"Anyway, I have to go. I hope I don't see you around," I said breezily. I spun on my heel and tried to walk away, but Ferdinand grabbed my arm. He smiled again before saying, "If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm always here, Megara." I laughed nastily. "What about dear Snow White?" I simpered before practically running away.

Hercules and I had dated for almost three years. We'd gotten together October 31st, 2010. We were at the annual Halloween dance our eighth grade year when Herk walked over and asked me to dance. He was dressed as a pirate and I went as a vampire. By the end of the four hour dance, we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

It was great. On Monday it was like I was a new person. I ditched my best friends Alice and Mulan to sit with Hercules and the other popular kids. Within a week Jasmine and I were hosting sleepovers at her mansion together. I tried out for cheerleading that May and was the only freshman to make junior varsity. Even though it was ran by Ripley Hart, who was a grade older than me and pretty much evil, cheerleading was fun. I was actually still cheering. Herk and I were like that perfect couple from a fairytale. We had gotten together despite the fact that he was popular and I wasn't. Now we were living happily ever after.

That fairytale ended a little over a week ago. Jasmine was throwing one of her famous Friday night parties and had invited everybody in our crowd. However, Herk's dad surprised his family by taking them on a long weekend in New York. So I called Jasmine to let her know I'd be going alone. Unfortunately, Jazz wasn't really thrilled by that news.

"Meg!" she almost screamed into the phone. "You can't go alone! I invited Herk and Meg, not Meg! Sorry, but this is a couple's party. You'll feel left out."

That made me feel pretty weird inside. Jazz was supposed to be my best friend. But was she really _my_ friend, or was she just friends with Meg and Hercules? The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. I only really hung out with my so called girl friends at sleepovers, and all we did was compare boyfriends. They hadn't ever been interested in me before I started dating Herk. Was I still Meg? Or was I destined to be Herk and Meg as long as I was still dating him?

I broke up with Hercules when he got back from his mini vacation on Monday. It was hard. He thought I was kidding for a little while, but I guess he read my face and realized I meant it. He even cried. That was the worst part. Hercules was a running back and started varsity basketball. He also was a champion weight lifter. One time he broke his thumb during a powerlifting meet and didn't even blink. He just finished lifting and didn't get help until he won first place. Hercules wasn't the kind of guy to cry. But I succeeded in making his beautiful blue eyes well over with tears.

It had only been a week since the breakup. Things apparently travel quickly in high school.

I sighed and kept walking. There was a lost looking freshman standing in front of my locker. "Um, excuse me!" I said loudly. She jumped a little bit and stared at me nervously. "Oh, s-sorry," she quickly apologized. As well she should. I may be single for the first time in years, but I was still a junior and she should better respect that. "You're in front of my locker. Move," I demanded. After seeing the look of pure terror in her eyes, I tacked on a "please."

She moved away like my locker has suddenly become electrified. But she didn't go far. "I'm sort of lost," she admitted, "Do you know where locker 2351 is?"

I snorted. "Probably beside 2350," I said with a smirk. "Oh," she said and started nodding. "That makes sense. I'm Jane, by the way. I'm a freshman."

So Jane was also an idiot. Who did she think she was, still talking to me? I looked her up and down. Her jeans were sort of cute, but her necklace looked cheap. I could use that. "Trust me, I can tell. Where'd you get your necklace? Claire's?" I asked nastily. Maybe I could send this dumb freshman away in tears.

Jane looked hurt for a second, but then her whole demeanor changed. She shoved her messenger bad a little higher on her shoulder and cocked her head. "Where'd you get your shirt? Goodwill?"

"I got it from Hollister, you little idiot," I hissed back. Did she know who she was dealing with?

That stupid little freshman jutted out her hip and smirked. "Did the attitude come with it, or did you get that _after_ you cheated on your boyfriend?"

Her words hit me like a slap in the face. Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed her shirt (It was probably K-Mart, anyway, so it wasn't a huge loss) and pulled her closer to me. _"Where did you hear that?!"_ I practically screamed. She kept her bitchy little smirk and stared into my eyes. It felt like I was losing all control faster than girls who use crappy hairspray. Suddenly I hear a loud slapping noise.

After that it felt like an out of body experience. Mr. Cogsworth, the stuffy history teacher, had to pull us apart as we pulled each other's hair. I had left a huge red mark on her face and she had pulled out a huge chunk of my hair. He and Ms. Potts, my sophomore English teacher, escorted us down the hall to Principal de Vil's office. That stupid little freshman didn't even seem fazed. She just kept right on smirking. I found myself wanting to tear her hair out.

What a great way to start my school year.


	3. Chapter 3

**As you can see, this is Chapter 3 of the Castle Heights series! I meant to get it written and uploaded much quicker than I actually did, but I've been pretty busy since uploading Chapters 1 and 2. Anyway, this is a Belle POV. Next chapter will be another Wendy POV. I'm thinking the chapter after that will be either a Mulan or Jasmine POV. By the way, I don't dislike Jasmine, I just want to show how other people see her before writing from her POV. Also, I introduced Cinderella's stepsisters before introducing Cinderella herself, but she and a lot of the other characters will be introduced in the Wendy POV. **

I was sitting in study hall, bored out of my mind, when I noticed the new library aid and realized he was kind of hot. And by kind of, I mean _really freaking hot._

My first day of school had been pretty standard. I had study hall for my homeroom, and thankfully it took place in the library. I had pretty much lived in the library my entire freshman year. That's where I met my boyfriend, Gaston LeGume. I was reading The Great Gatsby for the millionth time and he was studying Algebra 1, which was a freshman class. (He's dumb, okay? Get over it.) Our eyes met. You know the drill.

Six months later, I was in the library again, minus my football-playing boyfriend. Instead, I was surrounded by nervous freshmen and gloating upperclassmen. As far as I could see, I was the only sophomore there. At least Jumba, the librarian, liked me. He was huge, probably almost seven feet tall, and pudgy. He loved wearing Hawaiian shirts and always tried to get people to check out the library's massive science section.

Anyway, back to me. I sat in the row next to the back. Behind me was a gaggle of freshmen. In front of me, Jasmine, who was pretty much the princess of the junior class, was discussing homecoming attendants with some other members of the cheer squad.

"I'm soooo excited!" she gushed. She kept flipping her hair. Jasmine used to have super gorgeous hair before she put blonde highlights in it. Now it just looked tacky. Her new boyfriend, Flynn Rider, played football with Gaston so I guess we were expected to be kind of friends now.

Oprah Tremaine squinted her overly-lined eyes. "I don't know if I'm even going to run," she admitted while stroking her extensions. "Everyone knows Ripley's going to win queen."

My ears perked up at that. Ripley Hart was notorious for being a man-eating head cheerleader. She had so many guys wrapped around her finger that she was called the Queen of Hearts. Ripley seemed fine with it and even wore oversized, heart-shaped earrings. I guess that was just in case anyone forgot who she was.

Oprah's twin sister, Ellen, rolled her eyes. "Duh, Oprah. We'll still be on the court. Senior attendant is still totes amaaaaaaay-zing." Ellen and Oprah used to be identical twins before they started using hair dyes and plastic surgeries. Now Oprah's naturally brown hair was pitch black and about seventy-five percent fake. Ellen sported a perfectly perky fake nose and huge butt implants. They both had bright green eyes that were accentuated by tons and tons of eye makeup.

Oprah wasn't so convinced. She took a long sigh before countering, "What about Snow White and Sleeping Beauty?" It took me a second to realize who she was talking about. Snow White was better known as Charlotte Irving, a rich and popular senior who was unfashionably pale and generally well liked. That meant the cheerleading squad pretty much hated her, often calling her _So _White instead of her other nickname. Sleeping Beauty was Aurora Bayle, who frankly slept around a lot, explaining her well known alias. I understood why Oprah was worried.

Jasmine didn't let Ellen reassure her sister. 'Well, I'm positive that _I'm_ going to be one of the junior attendants," she bragged loudly. Then she elbowed Flynn in the ribs. "Aren't you making sure the football boys are voting for me, sweetie?" she cooed.

Poor Flynn looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Um, I know a lot of the guys are voting for Mulan, since she's kind of one of us," he told everyone almost apologetically.

His girlfriend didn't look too worried about that. "I guess that's why there's two spots. One can be a throwaway so the girl that _really_ deserves it can still be on the court," Jasmine decided. Then she brushed a stray hair off of the shoulder of her shirt. It looked like she was waving off any thoughts of Mulan beating her out for junior attendant.

"What about Megara?" Oprah asked. She seemed to be full of questions today. Usually she wasn't full of much, since she seemed to keep her stick thin figure through means of starvation.

Jasmine laughed loudly. "She dumped Herk out of nowhere so she's basically nothing now," Jasmine informed her. Her smirk would have scared the crap out of me, but it was blown off of her face by the sound of someone walking through the door.

Rapunzel Roth, another sophomore, made a loud and quite late entrance into the library. Even though I knew Rapunzel, we didn't exactly run in the same circles. She had been normal until about halfway through seventh grade. That was until Megara Kormos ditched her friends Mulan Lu and Alice Pleasance. Rapunzel has kind of filled in Meg's gap. Then she had started dying her hair bright purple and wearing dramatic makeup. Since then, she had decided to become a cosmetologist and started drawing on a fake black mole next to her left eye. Today she wore bright red lipstick, black cat-eye eyeliner, and tight black jeans. Everyone watched as she slowly sashayed to a seat in next to mine. I noticed Flynn especially seemed to have his eyes glued to her. Apparently, so did Jasmine. That was proven by her grabbing Flynn's chin and forcing him in for a very loud and public kiss.

"Settle down, everybody," Jumba said loudly so he could be heard over the roar of excited high schoolers. Jasmine released Flynn from her grasp. His cheeks and ears were very pink as he quickly glanced over his shoulder at Rapunzel. Luckily for him I seemed to be the only one who saw.

"Anyway, my name is Jumba and I'm the librarian here at Castle Heights High School. I'll give you your library cards here when my library aid gets back from the administration office with them," he finished. Then he shuffled back behind the library desk and left our class sitting at the library tables.

Rapunzel was painting her nails navy blue, so I decided she wouldn't be interested in talking. Jasmine, Oprah, and Ellen had continued gossiping about homecoming. The freshmen sitting behind me didn't look familiar, except for a blonde girl with pouty lips and a bored expression. I had seen her walking into school with a red haired boy. Her blonde bun was perfectly messy and her off the shoulder top complimented her petite frame. She was definitely going to grow up and be like Ripley or the other popular girls.

Finally I slipped out of my chair and started browsing the new arrivals section of the library. It was directly across from the tables but the rows of computers made it pretty well secluded. I breathed in the scent of new books. It smelled like home and comforted me. Maybe being in the same homeroom as these girls wouldn't be that bad. Gaston always tried to get me to talk to them at the football parties we attended.

I started browsing while I was thinking about that. Unlike Megara Kormos, who had abandoned her friends when she got a boyfriend, my social life hadn't changed much. Gaston came over a lot and occasionally we'd go to parties. But neither of us ever drank and I hadn't been swamped with other football girlfriends trying to befriend me. It was probably because I wasn't into cheerleading or volleyball or shopping, which seemed to be the only things they did. I didn't really have friends.

My friends lived in a world that I couldn't live in, but I could visit: the world of books. I know it sounds dumb, but books were my escape from being a friendless girl with a mega popular boyfriend.

"Can I help you?" A masculine voice yanked me from my thoughts. I looked up to see a guy standing in the next aisle. He looked vaguely familiar but I don't really know how. He seemed to see my startled expression. "I'm sorry to scare you," he apologized. "I'm Adam Foley and I'm the library aid."

I wasn't sure where I knew Adam Foley from, but I did know he was extremely good-looking. He had deep-set blue eyes that were surrounded by kind of nerdy-chic black glasses. His light brown hair and chiseled jaw made it difficult to stop staring at him. "I-I'm Belle Higgins," I choked out. Something about this totally hot guy was making my throat close up.

He smiled. I melted. "It's nice to meet you, Belle. Are you a sophomore?"

I nodded and smiled back. I had no idea what to say. I'm not really the type that has trouble talking to guys. When Gaston first showed interest in me, I managed to be witty and fun and make sure he liked me more than I liked him.

Adam tilted his head to the side. "I feel like I know you from somewhere. I'm a sophomore too, but I just transferred last year."

This is could respond to. "I was kind of thinking the same thing," I admitted. "But I'm at the library a lot, so you'll know me from there soon."

He chuckled a little. "That sounds just great. I'll leave you to your books." And with that, he placed another book on the shelf he was at and left.

I stood there wondering what on earth had just transpired. Had I been _flirting? _What about Gaston? I hit myself in the forehead with my hand. _Gaston!_ I loved him to death, but he tended to get crazy jealous sometimes. If Gaston found out that Adam had been paying attention to me when Gaston wasn't around, he would tear Adam limb from limb. Was I cheating? I guess not, but it couldn't hurt to be careful.

As I left homeroom, I had a new objective: avoid the library at all costs. And especially avoid the hot new library aid with hair that looked like a shampoo commercial.

Wait, where had _that_ come from?


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's Chapter Four, a Cinderella (Cindy) POV. I was planning on making this a Wendy POV but I changed my mind. Chapter 5 will definitely be a Mulan POV. Enjoy!**

My name is Cinderella Payton and I'm a cheerleader.

Sadly, that's pretty much my identity. I'm not Cindy Payton, the girl who's had a 4.0 grade average since birth. I'm not Cindy Payton, amateur fashion blogger and self-proclaimed style guru. I'm not Cindy Payton, a prized volunteer at every non-profit organization in the Castle Heights school district. I'm just Cindy Payton, cheerleader.

It's just cheerleader, too. It doesn't tell you that last year, I was the first freshman on the varsity team in the last decade or that I was a sophomore and already co-captain to senior Ripley Hart. It doesn't tell you that I'm on top of the pyramid because I'm an expert flyer and probably the most talented cheerleader this school has ever seen. It just tells you that I'm a cheerleader and, because there isn't the word "head" in front of it, I'm one of Ripley Hart's underlings.

As a member of the cheer squad, it was my duty to sit with the other cheerleaders during lunch at the center lunch table. Some people (mostly the girls that duty applied to) treated it like a divine right. Ripley was definitely one of those people, and you could totally tell by the way she reacted to Aurora Bayle sitting at the "cheer table." (Not my term by any stretch of the imagination.)

It started just after the fourth period bell. I had gratefully left Chemistry and started towards the cafeteria. I said good morning to Lunch Lady Tiana and collected my usual grilled cheese sandwich and of Baked Lay's. As I left the line, I noticed a familiar blonde senior sitting at the designated cheerleader table. I also saw Ripley and my twin step-sisters looking seriously ticked off.

I walked over as quickly as I could in open-toed, high heeled booties. (Don't judge, they looked super cute.) Ripley tossed her long, chestnut hair so hard I was sure we all now had hair in our food. Her huge heart-shaped earrings clanged loudly and made sure everybody in the cafeteria was looking at us. "Aurora," Ripley said sweetly, "You know how things go. You've been going here for three years now, sweetie! _Move." _

Aurora raised her eyebrows. "I don't see your name on it."

Ripley let out a scarily high-pitched laugh. Aurora was way braver than people thought she was. "Of course it doesn't have names on it! Your huge butt probably would have wiped them off, anyway."

Aurora's eyes narrowed dangerously. Ugh, this definitely wasn't going well. I really wanted to sit down. "At least my butt is real. Unlike _some_ people." My jaw dropped. That was definitely directed at Ellen.

Luckily, Ellen didn't seem fazed. Maybe she was too dumb to know it was about her. She was my stepsister and I loved her, but she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Listen, _Sleeping Beauty_," Ripley hissed. "I'm getting fed up with your crap. Please leave."

"_I'm_ the one sleeping?" Aurora said with a laugh. "Your lipstick looks you put it on while passed out drunk. Which you totally were at Luke Prince's party."

That made me listen a little more intently. Luke Prince was a junior that was so cool even the snooty senior girls paid attention to him. I'd been in love with him since I'd seen him dressed as Prince Charming at the Halloween Dance in seventh grade. I'd been dressed as a princess and somebody (probably Oprah or Ellen) had told me that he had done that to get my attention. He had the most beautiful hazel eyes and wasn't too tall, which with me being five foot-two was greatly appreciated.

Ripley snorted. "At least I wasn't having sex with everyone in a five mile radius. Seriously, all your friends are gone already."

Finally, Aurora Bayle peeled her oversized butt off Ellen's seat and stomped away. I heaved a sigh of relief and sat down. The circular tables at the cafeteria sat ten people, which was a good thing because we had ten varsity cheerleaders. Ripley, our head cheerleader, sat at the seat farthest away from the trashcan, with Oprah and Ellen on either side of her. Ellen, Oprah, and I weren't the only set of sisters on varsity this year. Three of the Current girls were doing double duty this year by joining the cheer squad in addition to swim team.

Jessica Rabbit, bottom right of the pyramid, sashayed over to our table. As usual, our team's only redhead was dressed to kill. Her clingy red dress was just barely long enough to fit dress code and I can't imagine how she was walking in her sky-high platform heels. She was already tall, but in those babies I'd bet she was over six foot. She plopped down in the seat behind me and sighed.

"There's a new exchange student from France," she announced morosely before tearing open her first Twinkie. I have no clue how she maintained her perfectly curvy figure; she ate like a total pig.

Oprah nodded. "Her name's Babette. Have you met her?"

"She's in my French class," Jessica replied. "She and Mr. Bougie were totally checking each other out."

I wrinkled my nose. Mr. Bougie was the French teacher. I guess he was kind of hot, in too-much-cologne kind of way. Jessica, however, had been obsessed with him longer than I'd known her. He was known for being a little bit creepy and hitting on senior girls.

"I thought I'd have a shot with him since I'm finally a senior," Jessica said mournfully. "But this stupid French slut is ruining my chance!" Then she stuffed the entire Twinkie in her mouth and chewed angrily.

I was actually relieved to see the Current girls finally show up. Alana Current, the second youngest sister, was in my grade. I guess we'd sort of become friends since we were stuck with a bunch of upperclassmen.

Adella Current, a junior, sat down with a smile on her face. "Gaston LeGume likes me, I am so sure," she trilled enthusiastically. Instead of eating, she started rearranging her brown hair.

Arista, her older sister, rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. He's dating that Belle girl and he wouldn't look twice at you. You're not his type. Everybody knows he likes curvier girls."

Alana laughed at her two older sisters. "That's still crazy talk. I heard from Merida that Belle is totally into the library aid."

I tuned out their mindless chatter and started dreaming of Luke Prince. He would definitely be one of the homecoming escorts. I wonder if I should run for homecoming attendant? There was only one way to find out.

"Do you guys think I could run for homecoming attendant and win?" I blurted. I could tell by the mean look Jessica was giving me that she had been telling another one of her stories.

Oprah and Ellen exchanged a glance before bursting out laughing. Adella's teal eyes were filled with pity. She was vain and self-centered, like most of the girls in her grade, but she seemed to feel genuinely sorry for me. Alana, on the other hand, was considering it.

"I'd vote for you," she said finally. I smiled at her, but it was kind of a sad smile. I guess I had my answer: don't bother running.

At our school, there were eight homecoming attendants and one queen: two freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors, two seniors, and one senior queen. However, there were also homecoming escorts and kings, which worked the same way with the guys as it did with the girls. The escorts got to pick which girls they would escort down the field during the Homecoming football game. That meant that if Luke was an escort and I was an attendant, he would be able to escort me in front of everyone. That was something that would literally make my life, too.

Jasmine Walters flounced over to the table. She was fifteen minutes late and, judging by the growing hickey on her neck, in a very good mood.

"Flynn stole the key to the janitor's closet," she bragged. She placed her bottle of Diet Coke on the table and sat next to me. As usual, her skirt was short enough to see almost every inch of her shapely legs. It was safe to say that I was the only cheerleader who didn't dress like a prostitute. "I had to convince him to run for escort. By the way," she said, digging into her large Prada purse, "I picked up petitions!" Jasmine waved the papers around like a victory flag.

Jessica ripped one of them out of her hands and began filling it out. "Who wants to sign?" she asked breathlessly.

Ellen and Oprah had twin looks of disgust on their faces. "Jess," Ellen said slowly, "do you really think that's a good idea?"

Oprah tossed her black hair expertly. I'd never tell anyone, but I'd seen her practicing that perfect hair flip in her mirror on more than one occasion. "Yeah, everybody knows who's going to be on the court. You haven't been one of the names thrown around."

Jessica snorted. "Who cares? I'm going to be on the court because I'm actually smart enough to fill out my petition. I can't say that for you, Tweedledum and Tweedledumber."

"I don't think I'm going to run," Arista said quietly. As the last senior girl on the squad, Arista got overlooked a lot. I guess she'd decided it would be easier to let the other four senior girls duke it out.

"Well, I know _I'm_ running," Adella said. Jasmine handed her a paper and they high-fived each other. The two juniors on the squad knew how to stick together. Actually, there were _three _juniors.

"Where's Meg?" I yelled over the noise Ellen, Oprah, and Jessica were making. Jasmine's face turned white and Ripley rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you hear?" Ripley snapped. I shook my head slowly. Ripley smirked. "She and Herk broke up and I heard she totally flipped out and tried to kill a freshman today. So I asked her to turn in her cheer uniform third period during Calculus and she was like 'Sure, whatever.'"

"She's been acting really weird," Jasmine whispered. She looked devastated. I knew that she and Meg had been closer friends. Well, as close as two girls fighting for popularity could be around here.

Ripley tossed her hair again. Her earrings jingled once more. "Ms. Queen and I already talked about it and we're holding tryouts on Friday. We decided that all the seniors and Cindy can be judges."

"WHAT?!" Jasmine and Adella shrieked in unison. They were so loud that half the people in the cafeteria looked over worriedly. "That is so not fair!" Jasmine continued with her hands on her hips. Adella just gave me the death glare. "Adella and I are older than her and we've been on varsity just as long!"

Jessica smirked. Ellen and Oprah shared a meaningful look. Arista gulped. Alana continued playing Angry Birds on her white iPhone. Ripley scratched the side of her nose with one of her long, blood red nails. "It's nothing personal. It's just that Cindy's the second best cheerleader on this team and you two _suck_ compared to her."

Jasmine's jaw dropped. Adella tore open a packet of ketchup so quickly that it splattered all over Arista's jeans. Arista, of course, said nothing but started blotting the stain.

"So it's settled." Ripley said with a venomous smile. "Cheer tryouts Friday after school."

"It's settled," Jessica, Oprah, Ellen, Arista, and Alana repeated. The glare on Jasmine's face kept my voice from working.

Boy, was this day turning out just _great._


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's Chapter 5, my first Mulan POV. I finally mapped out how I want the next ten chapters to go, so the next chapter will definitely be a Wendy POV. Enjoy!**

People usually say two's company and three's a crowd.

In my case, three's perfect and two's just lonely.

Alice, Meg, and I became friends on the first day of kindergarten. That was because neither Meg nor Alice had remembered to bring crayons with them. I, on the other hand, had a brand spanking new 64-pack with more colors than there were people on the earth. At least, that's how it seemed at the time. So our teacher sat them on either side of me and from then on we were inseparable.

I was the glue that kept us together, but we were really like three parts of the same person. Meg was the mouthpiece and skin, all tough and sharp and mean to people who picked on us. Alice was the face, quiet and beautiful. I was the brain and body because I was an athletic, intelligent artist. It was us against the world, and if the world won sometimes, so what? We were still doing fine because we had each other. I'd spent the best times of my life with those girls and I'd give anything to get it back.

That all changed when eighth grade or, rather, when Hercules happened. He swept Meg off her feet and far, far away from us. Without Meg, we fell out of balance. Nothing worked as well anymore. Then Rapunzel showed up. She was a feisty little seventh grader and fit right into Meg's shoes. But I'll be the first to admit that Alice and I depended on her too much. We wanted Meg back so badly that we tried to change Rapunzel into her. Poor thing dealt with it. She still deals with it.

That summer, Alice's older sister, Mathilda, died. She had had cancer for almost four years and just graduated. It hit the Pleasance family hard. Alice's parents got divorced and Alice turned to drugs to escape. She entered high school with a new reputation: Alice Pleasance, stoner. It didn't help that Rapunzel was still in junior high. It meant that Alice and I were stuck to stand up on our own.

Meanwhile, Meg made the JV squad, which was rare for a freshman. I became the only girl in school history to try out and make the football team.

So began _my_ new reputation: Mulan Lu, super jock. It was great. I still hung out with Alice and Rapunzel, of course, but I had tons of really cool guy friends. Okay, Shang helped too. Shang Li was my boyfriend and we were very, very happy together.

Honestly, Hercules was a great guy. I begrudgingly liked him. It totally surprised me when Meg dumped him out of the blue. I'm sure that made things between her and her "bestie" Jasmine Walters tough.

Jasmine Walters was basically evil personified and stuffed into a size six frame. Over the summer, she'd nabbed and brainwashed yet another football player. This time it was Flynn Rider, a cool guy in our grade that I had always thought was interested in Rapunzel. But as soon as he showed up to practice with a hickey, I knew he was gone for good.

Anyway, it was the first day of my junior year of high school. I was wearing a new shirt. It was pink, which had totally shocked everyone, and fit tightly enough to show that yes, I had a pretty small waist. I could tell that people had noticed, too.

One person definitely hadn't, and that was Alice.

But I don't really think she noticed much anymore. Like she hadn't noticed that she was overdue for a haircut. Her light blonde hair was almost to her butt and looked stringy. She hadn't realized she was wearing one of her nicer pairs of black flats with a pair of old gray jeans and a worn out maroon tank top.

"Where were you yesterday, Al?" I asked. We were sitting in Home Ec. during sixth period. "You were supposed to help me get my hair ready for today. I had to put it in a bun again. And where were you during lunch?"

She pouted at me. Her lips were looking kind of scary. They were dry and chapped and deathly pale. "I was in Wonderland, Mulan. You should've been there. It was so beautiful I cried. I wish you could go with me." I could see her eyes were red and glazed over. She took my hand and laid her head on the table and didn't talk for the rest of the period.

I tried to focus on what Ms. Queen was saying. Ms. Queen's class was the class that all the girls took because it was easy and all the guys took because Ms. Queen was hot for forty-something. She was about my height and pale, with chestnut hair. She looked like she'd had some work done, which was probably because her husband was loaded. Her stepdaughter was Charlotte Irving, a popular senior girl everybody called Snow White. All the cheerleaders took Ms. Queen's class because she was their coach and was a _lot_ easier on them.

"Welcome, class," Ms. Queen said in her low, sultry voice. Ferdinand Rossi, Snow White's boyfriend, was sitting in the front row. He was a total scumbag, so I'm sure he was enjoying the view of Ms. Queen's over-the-top cleavage. "This year, I'll be teaching you how to cook, clean, sew, and basically manage a household. How does that sound?"

An overly perky freshman sitting behind me chirped out, "Great!" Most of the other people in the class started laughing. I turned around in time to see her cheeks turn bright red as she slumped down in her seat.

"Glad to see someone's had their morning coffee," Ms. Queen said meanly. Shang had taken her class last year and had said that she was pretty much a grown up mean girl. I was starting to think he was right.

"Anyway, we'll start real class on Monday. So today you can just hang out or whatever. Just don't bother me. Ripley, Arista, Jessica, Cindy, can I talk to you girls for a minute?" I sighed. Great. Some of the infamous cheerleaders were in this class.

"Al, you okay?" I whispered to Alice. She seemed to be fast asleep, so I turned to the freshman girl behind me. She looked ready to cry.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She looked up and seemed shocked that anyone was talking to her.

"Um, I'm fine," she mumbled. She seemed really down after embarrassing herself like that. I also saw that she had a huge red mark on her face.

"What's your name?" I asked her. She was kind of pretty in a young way, with big blue eyes and dark brown hair. But you could tell by looking at her that she wasn't _just_ pretty. It was like there was something below the surface that was waiting to make itself known. Her eyes looked sharper than the eyes of most of the dumb freshmen. They looked like the kind of eyes that had seen things nobody needed to see. Her mouth looked like it was used to smirking. She reminded me of someone, but I wasn't exactly sure who it was.

"I'm Jane Porter," she answered. And then she smirked. "You probably haven't heard of me."

Then it clicked. It suddenly made so much sense that I blinked several times and shook my head a little. When I finally focused on her again, she had her right hand on her hip and picked up a bored expression. I swear it was like looking at the ghost of someone I used to know.

Jane Porter looked exactly like Meg did before Hercules. Before popularity. When she was still my friend. Jane Porter was suddenly a name I wished I'd have heard before this.

"People will probably know me more now," she continued, "I just got in a fight with some senior girl. I think her name was Megan or something."

My shock kept growing. "Was it Megara? She's a little shorter than me, dresses real skanky?" I offered.

"Was she dating the Hercules guy?" Jane asked. I nodded and she smiled. "Yeah, I asked her if she could help me find my locker and she was a bitch to me so I was a bitch back and she tackles me so I punched her and stuff. I gave her a black eye," she told me cheerfully.

My jaw dropped to the floor. "Seriously?" I stuttered.

Jane kept smirking. "Totally. I wouldn't lie about that." And then, in total Meg fashion, she said "Do you know who that guy in the back is?"

I did. He played football and his name was Tarzan. He was in my grade. "He's probably too old for you," I told her gently.

Jane threw her head back in a laugh. "I guess we'll see," she said confidently. Then she finger-combed her short hair and sashayed over to talk to Tarzan.

I just sat there in disbelief. "Mulan," Alice said hoarsely, "How much time do we have before seventh period?"

I checked the clock. "Tons of time," I said.

"Perfect," she said with a crooked smile. "You should go help little Meg out." And then Alice went back to sleep on the desk.

And at that point, I could see what people meant about reincarnation. Meg wasn't even dead, but we already had a new version of her prancing the halls of Castle Heights High School. But I also knew what they said about history and how people involved are doomed to repeat it. At the moment in time, I swore that I wouldn't let Jane and Tarzan happen.


End file.
